Page 11 of Remade (Hillcroft Group #3)

Leighton Watts

Darius had been right. No amount of love for this family would make me think Christmas was just wonderful. Right after a “light” Christmas Day brunch at Mary and James’s house, I escaped to the front porch to catch my breath and calm my brain.

Kids were so damn loud, and the Quinns had so many of them!

My stomach felt like it was going to explode after all that food, and I wasn’t sure my eardrums were intact any longer. Sweet Jesus.

I embraced the cold and sucked in lungfuls of air.

Also, Ryan could be louder than all the kids combined.

I wouldn’t wanna be anywhere else on the planet right now, but yeah, I definitely needed a breather.

Mary and James lived in a nice area, with modest Victorian houses and picket fences, and they managed to squeeze the whole damn family into the living room and adjacent dining room, which, in turn, opened up to the kitchen. So, there was no privacy, no secluded area. Everyone was on top of one another. All the Quinns—and even some members of Gray’s family.

I shivered as a harsh wind blew past, and I let out a long breath.

The door opened behind me a beat later, and I was relieved to see it was Bo.

He grinned and closed the door behind him. “You look sufficiently shell-shocked, pup.”

I widened my eyes. “Did you know it was going to be like this? I don’t wanna sound ungrateful—I love being here—but it’s one of the most overwhelming experiences of my life.”

He chuckled. “I had a hunch. My sister’s five boys have hardened me a bit. They’re the reason I prefer to spend Thanksgiving at Em and Danny’s place.”

Yeah, I could suddenly imagine that. Because, hell .

His amusement grew softer with affection, and he stepped closer to me. “Can it be my turn now?”

Before I could ask what he meant, he retrieved a gift-wrapped box from his back pocket and extended it to me.

Suh-weet!

I grinned and accepted it. The box fit in my palm and was about an inch thick, and he’d definitely wrapped the gift himself. We used the same amount of tape. As in, a lot.

“Yours is still inside,” I said. I’d bought him a ridiculously overpriced coffee machine that Gray had recommended to me. I knew Bo was going to love it. Coffee was his preferred drug.

Alex and I had to give him our gifts together, because I’d helped her order a coffee mug that read “Not Yet. I’m Only on My Second Cup” on it.

I tore off the wrapping, and Bo took it from me so I could lift the lid off the box.

Whoa. Whoa . A new multitool—a great one that I’d looked at a few times. And what was… Gift cards too? I sifted through five gift cards, and I couldn’t believe him. I was bitching about a two-hundred-dollar coffee machine, and he’d spent way more than that.

“As your hot-as-fuck, slightly older, operator boyfriend, I’m taking the liberty of walking you through your seven Ps so I know it’s done correctly.”

Heh. Slightly older. Funny.

It was his issue, not mine. Especially when he rapefucked me six ways to Sunday, I loved that he was the big, bad, older predator who used his boy for his pleasure. It got me off like fucking whoa. And yeah, whoa, this gift was…a lot.

“Um.” I cleared my throat. “I barely spent half of this on your gift, hon. I wanna go out and buy something else.”

He snorted softly in that, you’re funny and fucking silly kind of way. “Don’t even. This is more for me than for you. Do you remember the seven Ps?”

Oh please.

“It’s Christmas, not some class in preparedness,” I accused playfully.

Truthfully, I loved how protective he was. Never in a million years would I have guessed there was an endearing fusser underneath that steely exterior, but boy, was I glad to be wrong. He made me feel incredibly special.

Bo waited with an expectant look on his face.

I sighed through a chuckle and humored him. “Prior preparation and planning prevent piss-poor performance.”

He nodded in satisfaction. “Attaboy.” He pointed to the gift. “We’ll put together your first kit as a gray man with this. Utility clothes that blend in—I don’t wanna see any tacti-cool shit in the field—a good flashlight, and maybe a folder.”

That got me all excited. The last few weeks before our brief holiday break, we’d heard all our instructors point out that we were halfway through our training. In January, an 80% workload in theory would shrink into 40% as practical drills and terrain work took over.

I couldn’t wait.

“Thank you.” I smiled up at him. “You’re more romantic than you give yourself credit for.”

He exhaled a soft laugh and kissed me on the forehead. “If you think this is romantic, I’ve definitely hit the jackpot with you, baby. Christ.” He cupped my cheek and rested his forehead to mine. “But I already knew that,” he murmured. “Know what else I know?”

I shook my head, my stomach tightening with nerves, because it felt like?—

“That I love you to stupid measures.”

Oh my God, he actually said it. He said it. I’d felt it for a long time, making it easier to be patient and less anxious, and now he’d said the words too. Holy shit.

I exhaled unsteadily as indescribable joy shot through my system, and I left my Christmas gift on the porch railing before I locked my arms around his neck.

“That’s funny, because I love you to ridiculous measures.”

The slow spread of his smile—that level of hotness couldn’t be described either. He dipped down and kissed me hard, and I felt like the luckiest fucker on the planet.

“Say it again?” I nipped at his lip before I met his tongue with my own, and I shivered at the sheer pleasure.

“I love you. I shoulda said it sooner?—”

I shook my head. “I wanted you to be sure when you said it. This was perfect.”

He sighed and kissed me again. “I’ve been sure for a while too. I guess I just gotta drag my feet and wonder what the fuck you’re doing with me before I get shit done.”

He was bonkers sometimes.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You make me happy every day.”

He smiled again, and he squeezed me to him. “Good. So do you. And I hope you’ll keep doing that when I suggest you move in with me after the holidays.”

I inched back, surprised. Shouldn’t he drag his feet for a while? I knew about the apartment. It’d struck me as curious that he’d chosen to rent instead of buy this time, but then I’d heard Alex say that Uncle Bo had asked her if she wanted to get a house one day.

She’d immediately made it about animals. She wanted a bunny or some shit.

As long as it wasn’t a ferret…

“I want you in my bed every damn night,” he murmured against my lips.

I nodded and pressed myself closer to him. “Sometimes you have the best ideas, my beast.”

He made a hot growl-like sound and squeezed my ass. “So you’re gonna make your beast happy and say yes?”

“Mmm, I’m gonna make my beast happy and moan yes.”

He cursed and deepened the kiss.

February 14th, 2025

“Coming through! Beep, beep! Beeeep!”

Jesus Christ! I sidestepped right before Alex tore down the hall on her bright-purple ATV for kids. She was clearly in a rush to get to the cafeteria.

“Hi, Nugget! Bye, Nugget! See you at dinner!”

I was too out of breath to respond, still spent from two hours in the pool, this time in full combat gear. I’d barely been able to stand in the shower. Then I’d put on a pair of sweats and a tee with my jellylike arms, and now I was starving.

Where was Bo? He’d obviously picked up Alex from school…

I ran a hand through my hair and continued my much slower approach to the cafeteria.

We’d originally planned on having dinner at home, but it’d been a long-ass day, and it wasn’t over. Bo had a briefing later, and I had a test to study for.

I met up with Tanner on the way, and he was as exhausted as I was.

“I don’t think I’m going out tonight,” he yawned.

“Fuck that,” I grumbled.

“Well, unlike you, I don’t have a Valentine’s date,” he huffed.

I rolled my eyes.

I was glad Bo and I cared the same amount about this “holiday.” As in, “just enough.” I’d woken him up with a blow job and a donut with red icing, and he’d fingered me and eaten me out in the shower until I’d sprayed the tiles with my load. Actually, he’d also made me breakfast. Bacon in the shape of a heart.

I fucking loved that man.

I yawned again, and Tanner and I went our separate ways. He was having dinner with his brother, and I guessed I’d wait for Bo’s arrival.

Alex prepared her own tray, and I assumed we were sitting where she’d parked her favorite toy in the whole world. Sometimes, we had to remind her that her legs still worked.

My stomach snarled when I noticed they were serving pizza today, so fuck waiting for Bo. I needed to eat, stat.

“Lemon, where’s your uncle?” I asked, loading my plate.

“He’s getting my new frame in his locker. It arrived today.” She was happy about that, and I felt for her.

She’d accidentally knocked over the picture of her parents in her sleep the other day, and she’d been devastated to wake up with glass on the floor. Luckily, the picture hadn’t been damaged, and Bo had ordered her a new frame. She was gonna decorate it, of course.

Alex and I took our seats at our usual table, and she stared longingly at her little ATV, followed by a pout my way. But I stood firm. She was allowed to drive the thing in the hallways after school, when we didn’t have countless operators wandering the building, and she could not eat her dinner in it. She’d tried to demonstrate once how easy it would be by balancing her plate on the handles, and that was the day her spaghetti was dumped in her lap.

“Don’t look at me like that,” I told her.

She scowled instead. “I won’t drop my food again. It’s pizza!”

I didn’t care. “You gotta ask Bo, honey. He created the rule, and we’ll follow it.”

Alex wasn’t anything like I’d expected children to be. She didn’t fuss a whole lot, she could get cranky when she was tired just like anyone in the world, and she did get sad every now and then when she missed her dad. But nine times out of ten, she was so easy to be around. That said, ever since we’d moved across the street to the Towers—when things between Bo and me became more official—Alex had started testing her limits. Or our limits, I should say.

Bo’s sister said it was normal, so we were just going with it.

More often than not, I was the one who texted with Kat—at least when it came to Alex—because Kat and Bo had an interesting dynamic. Right now, for instance, she was on Bo’s shit list for being smug about “calling it” with his sexuality. She’d apparently hinted that he might not be straight.

She was very nice to me, and that was all that mattered.

Bo arrived soon after, and he looked as tired as I felt. He dismissed Alex’s plea with a yawn and went to grab food, so Alex tossed her half-eaten slice on the plate and sat back with a huff.

This was fun.